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Daily Archives: April 12, 2012

I first heard of the snakehead fish about ten years ago, when it made news in Washington, DC, area where I lived. The snakehead fish, which is native of Africa and Asia, was found spawning in a pond in Maryland not far from the Potomac River. The snakehead fish is a priced delicacy in Asian countries, so someone tried to grow them in the US and then released them to the wild. The snakehead fish is known to be a ‘top-level predator’ meaning it doesn’t have natural enemies outside its natural habitat. They also have the capability of surviving out of the water for up to four days, and by wriggling their bodies and fins they can ‘walk’ on the land up to 1/4 miles. So there was fear that the fish would cause havoc to the ecosystem at the nearby Potomac River if it had made it there. The National Geographic Channel had a short video about the snakehead fish as the ‘fishzilla.’

After visiting the floating village of Chong Kneas, we went to a restaurant to have lunch before continuing our sightseeing in the afternoon. When we looked at the menu, we found out that this particular restaurant served steamed snakehead fish (which is quite common as delicacy in Southeast Asian countries like Thailand and Cambodia). Neither Kristi nor I had ever had this fish before, so we decided to give it a try.

The photo below was our steamed snakehead fish dish when it was served on a fish-shaped metal dish. The fish was indeed very tasty; no wonder this was such a priced delicacy.